A DOZEN men, women and boys, some no older than 15, milled about their rough tents as twilight fell in a remote forest clearing. Some were in lungyis and T-shirts; others wore fatigues, with bolt-action Enfield rifles slung on their shoulders and bandoleers around their waists. Comrade Vijja, a burly man with a bottlebrush moustache, sat with some of his troops around a cooking fire, sipping sweetened tea. He sounded...

Who is afraid of the multinational seed giants? Practically everyone, it seems, barring governments. The more enlightened agricultural scientists, the legion of activists, small farmers and plant breeders across the world have all been worried by the fast dwindling biodiversity and consolidation of the global seed trade through patenting. Now, the UN has joined the chorus of concern but unfortunately its notes, perhaps because it was distant and bass, or...

NAGAPATTINAM: For the first time in a hundred years, dalits of Chettipulam village stepped inside the local Shiva temple on Tuesday, in a historic moment brought about by government and political intervention. Escorted by revenue and police officers, nearly 70 dalits of the village situated near Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district entered the century-old Kamatchi Amman Sametha Ekambareswarar Temple at around 11 am and offered prayers for 25 minutes. Dressed in...

The philosophy of self-aggrandisement defies social logic. Seven leading banks in the United States of America had last year incurred an aggregate loss of $82 billion; the chief executive officers of these banks nonetheless claimed and collected annual bonus to the extent of $38 billion. The economy might lie in ruins; that did not distract sharks from zooming in on their prey. Our corporate sector has shaped itself in the...

In their own manner, Indian Maoists have worked out the rationale of what they are doing. The grisly serial murders they are indulging in are, in the first instance, intended to warn god-fearing men and women in the areas they are entrenched in to behave and not act as police informers. Should their instructions be infringed, retribution would be swift and merciless. The brutal killings, specifically of CPI(M) cadre and...